A Princely Invitation
by Banana499
Summary: Sasuke and Naruto go off on a mission only to come back and find out that Sakura is dating a prince!
1. Chapter 1

It has been two years since the war against Madara and Konoha has been rebounding from the attack by rebuilding their village.

Sasuke had gone on his journey of redemption and frequently visited Sakura and Naruto while discovering new people on his path in life. He finally decided to stay mainly in Konoha as he could now officially be a shinobi again since he had finished his punishment period. Sasuke soared through the chunnin exams and trains more until he can become a Jounin.

Since he was reinstated as a shinobi he can go on missions with the old team seven and Sai. Although, Sakura as one of the best medics of the hospital was usually clocking in hours and had no time for missions with the team. The time she spent with Sasuke was on team outings and him coming to the hospital for her to heal him since she was the only one he trusted, and again one of the best.

Not seeing Sakura irked the team and Naruto would often comment durin' team outings to Ichiraku.

"C'mon Sakura-chan! You said that last time! Why can't one of the others take your shift?!"

Sakura sighed, "Naruto, you know this can't be helped. I am one of the most developed medics at the hospital and I am needed for surgery and other situations at all times. So stop pestering me about it!" This was preceded with even more complaints and a beating from the fiery kunoichi.

"Anyways, I'll see you guys when you get back from your mission alright?"

She waved goodbye and started trotting off towards the hospital.

"Awwwww! I wish Sakura-chan had more time for us. She didn't even finish her ramen! …I'll just take a little…ow!" Naruto flinched from the hit and glared at Sasuke. "Teme!", he growled.

"Dobe." He then looked down at the leftover food in contemplation.

"Ugggh," Sakura groaned and slowly rubbed her forehead.

She had just performed three surgeries one after another and was exhausted with a throbbing headache. Wincing in pain, she crossed her office to locate her pain medicine, and popped one in her mouth drowning it in water.

'I'm tired, I'm hungry…why didn't I just eat the rest of my ramen?!' she thought. But, she did know why. Sasuke. It had been two years since he had come back to Konoha and thing were great. Of course in the beginning it was a little awkward because it had been years since they were a team. People had changed. They had changed. In body and spirit.

They started being a team again reading each other's moves and moods. Knowing each other as shinobi and as civilians. It was great. They were friends again. And Sakura thought being friends with Sasuke would be enough. But sometimes she would see his eyes soften towards her or see him trying to hide his smile when team seven was joking around and her heart would throb with unshed tears of sadness in her eyes. She would wonder if being friends was really enough, but then berate herself for even thinking such a thing. "Things are good as they are don't go messing with something already so precious! And besides, it is not like Sasuke even likes me. All I wish for him is to be happy. And I know he may find his happiness with someone else so maybe it is time for me to move on.

As Sakura pondered over her meandering thoughts, she heard a tap at her door and muttered, "Come in."

 _I really hope no one is asking for me again! Inner Sakura yelled._ "Hi, how can I help yoo…" she stuttered. Speak of the devil. Sasuke Uchiha was standing in the doorway of her office with a takeout bowl and a pair of chopsticks in his hands. He looked at her and held out the bowl then looked away shyly.

"Here's your ramen," he said with a passive face.

"Oh. OHH! You mean from before!" Sakura exclaimed. "Thank you so much I really needed to finish that before I clocked in but you know I was in a hurry and never gave a second thought about it and.. oh you had to pay for my food didn't you I'm sorry I'm so forgetful. I can pay you back or I can even pay for the next outing, blah blah blah blah blah…" she rambled.

Sakura and Sasuke have a comfortable relationship now even with his verbal barrier and her moments of consistent rambling around him. Sakura was polite and acted friendly for him, but you would never know that she had been in love with him for how professional she always acted.

"It's fine." And Sasuke didn't really know how to feel about this. He was very grateful that she didn't cling to him and all like she did before but he felt very comfortable with her and might even find her…attractive. As in this Uchiha has it bad. He doesn't know it of course because of his emotional constipation and all, but his other teammates sure as hell noticed the difference in his demeanor when he talks to Sakura. Even that idiot Naruto could see the bloom of warmth coming from the stoic Uchiha.

"So you have an A rank mission tomorrow right?" Sakura asked.

"Ah."

"Well you need to be careful and don't overdue it. I don't want to come into the hospital and see both of you numskulls in critical condition just because you try to outdo each other, alright?" She said with a glint of warning in her eyes.

"Ok." He grunted.

"Sasuke...", she started in a sugary sweet voice.

"I promise", he said, because he certainly didn't want this kunoichi to get mad what with her super strength and all. Yes he is a little daunted by her and yes he is not afraid to admit it.

"Good", she said in satisfaction, "You should go get some rest it's already 9:30 and you have a lot to do, ok?"

He grunted and started for the door only to be stopped by a "wait!"

He heard footsteps and then arms wrapped around him from behind. She placed a chaste kiss on his cheek and said softly, "Be safe."

He froze for a moment and then moved away from her towards the door. "Ah".

He left and started the trek to the Uchiha compound. With a hint of blood tinting his cheeks.


	2. Chapter 2

"Not again!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Stop scratching it dobe!"

Naruto kept on moaning and groaning about the wound he received from the A-rank mission, which consisted of a particularly annoying jutsu.

"Leave me alone teme! How was I to know that he would use poison ivy whips! Stupid vegetarian freak!"

This vegetarian jutsu made it where every time Naruto scratched his itch a little plant friend with a yellow body and teary eyes would pop out of his body and annoy both of them with a high pitched chuckling noise. Every time Naruto scratched his itch. Which was every second for this impatient imbecile.

"Naruto! If you don't stop itching I'll have to make you stop!" , Sasuke growled in annoyance.

Naruto gulped. He didn't doubt that Sasuke would and knew that it would probably consist of Sasuke chidoriing his ass.

This wasn't the first time Sasuke had an outburst of irritation. This whole mission contained annoyance after annoyance.

First, they got to the person that they were suppose to escort and it was a pompous noble who thought he was entitled to use everyone and thought he could boss Sasuke and Naruto around like servants. This did not go down with them at all and of course Naruto got a punch in on "his highness", but that didn't stop this guy from complaining about them the whole escort. Second, they came upon some downright weird ninja who were vegetarians and used a bunch of ridiculous plant jutsus. They were pretty weak and had no real effect, but after Sasuke and Naruto kick the enemy's butts and thought they were knocked out, one of them popped up and whipped this vine of poison ivy at Naruto. Sasuke ended up punching his lights out, cleaning up the mess, and then having to deal with Naruto's affliction that started popping up on the road.

Needless to say, he was ready to go home.

They were in sight of Konoha's gates and they both sighed in relief.

"I can't wait to see Sakura-chan so that I can finally be done with this!" Naruto whined.

All of team seven usually made a beeline to Sakura after one of their missions since she wanted to see them to make sure that they were ok anyways. They are pretty pampered by her even though when they show up she complains about them not being careful enough. However, they would take Sakura's mother hen instincts over waiting in line to be treated by someone less experienced and who they weren't familiar with any day.

"Aa." Sasuke looked away from Naruto towards the entrance guards.

They made their way though the gate albeit with weirded out glances from the guard at Naruto's screeching deformity. After entering the village they started walking towards the hospital or in Naruto's case stumbling because the plant had gone silent and was now sleeping on Naruto's knee. Why did it stop? No one knows.

As they were walking Sasuke noticed something was off. The atmosphere was different as if it were buzzing with excitement.

The villagers were glancing his way and whispering to each other like they were gossiping. This was really nothing new for the reknown Uchiha traitor as that's how his presence was usually accompanied. Especially when he came back to Konoha it was constant. But now it had calmed down quite a bit. And this wasn't the same air as 'look at the evil traitor'. It was as if something big was happening and it involved him.

"Sasuke, why are they staring at us like that?" Naruto whispered with his eyes squinted.

"Tch, they are just looking at you and that weird growth dobe."

"Eehhhh?! Really?! No they can't just be looking at me I have a reputation to upkeep! I'm gonna be Hokage Dattebayo!", Naruto whined.

Naruto continued whining as they made their way into the hospital, and the glances only increased, this time by the nurses and hospital staff. Sasuke started hearing catches of the whispering like 'new guy' and 'marriage'. Sasuke still did not understand why they would be looking at him.

They got to the door of Sakura's office and Sasuke was fixing to open the door when he heard someone speaking.

"Thank you Sakura for the wonderful treatment you gave me. Not only did you heal my body with your healing touch but also my heart," the voice proclaimed.

Sasuke froze at the door with Naruto wondering why he wasn't going in. "Hey!...umphkdjf!" Sasuke clamped his hand over Naruto's mouth.

"Errr.. thank you… for the compliment Akihiko-kun," Sakura stuttered sounding clearly flustered.

Sasuke's grip on the door handle tightened. 'Akihiko-KUN. Sakura. Just Sakura. No one but me can call her that.'

In irritation Sasuke barged in, politeness be damned but stopped short at what he saw.

A guy had his lips pressed up against her hand with his body in a half bow position.

With a very flustered looking blushing Sakura.

Naruto looked at the scene in disbelief and then yelled, "Stop there you perverted patient!"

Both Sakura and Akihiko looked up towards Sasuke and Naruto.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you all so much for your reviews! This is my very first time writing a fanfic so I didn't really expect to have this many people liking my story! It makes me happy! Thnx**

Both Sakura and Akihiko looked up towards Sasuke and Naruto.

Sakura looked at them with wide eyes and a flushed countenance.

The other guy did not look startled in the slightest. This Akihiko- _Kun_ had auburn hair with dark gray blue eyes and wore expensive looking clothing. He did not seem affiliated with the shinobi.

Akihiko turned towards them and smiled as if Naruto's accusation did not register.

"I'm not as much a perverted patient as an avid admirer. Also, is it perverted to speak to my girlfriend in such a way?"

Sasuke turned rigid.

Naruto shouted, "Girlfriend?! Sakura doesn't have a boyfriend! She couldn't have! We've only been gone two weeks! Blah blahblah…."

"Well that is exactly what we are. Isn't that right, Sakura?" Akihiko asked. He then placed his arm around Sakura's waist.

Naruto just stood there gaping while Sasuke's demeanor darkened considerably.

Sakura face pinched in discomfort. "Yea…that's right", Sakura concluded hesitantly. "He is my boyfriend."

Sasuke became even more stoic if that was even possible.

They sat there in tense silence for a few seconds.

Sasuke glared at Akihiko while Sakura looked uncertainly between the two.

Naruto after a minute said, "umm well I guess we need to introduce ourselves. I'm Naruto and I'm gonna be the next hokage dattebayo! This is Sasuke teme", he stumbled "I mean Uchiha. We are Sakura's teammates! Including Sai and Kaka-sensei we make up team seven!," he ended cheerfully.

"It's nice to meet you, Naruto, Sasuke," he said looking at both of them but then lingering on the latter.

"Yup!"

"Tch!" Sasuke looked away.

Naruto looked between the two and then said, "Don't worry about him he just has a stick stuck up his ass!"

"It's ok, it's not everyday I get to meet someone with such a refreshing character!," He smiles. Naruto smiles back warming up to the guy.

"Oh, where are my manners? I have not introduced myself yet!" Akihiko exclaimed. "My name is Akihiko Kurame and I am crown prince of the Kurame clan."

Naruto gasped and turned to Sakura. "Your dating a prince?!"

"Well, yes," Sakura offered.

"And a crowned prince at that! I don't know what that means but it sounds important!" Naruto rambled.

He and Akihiko started talking about royal statuses and nobles that Naruto had encountered and then it somehow got to the topic of ramen.

While they blithered on Sakura stood there looking uncomfortable and glancing at Sasuke. He looked emotionless as per usual. 'Well it's not like I expected him to care but….' Sakura thought. 'I guess it really doesn't matter to him at all'. Sakura's heart ached a little at the thought.

While Naruto was still yammering on Sasuke grabbed on to Naruto's collar pulling him out of the room while saying, "Let's go."

Sakura looked like she was fixing to say something putting up a hand to stop them, but Akihiko took her hand before she could leave and said, "Actually Sakura, I wanted to ask you something…"

Naruto complained the whole way out of the building and continued to outside yelling things like, "Hey I was having a conversation with Akihiko-san!" and "We haven't had a check up yet teme!"

However, when Sasuke did not respond to any of his teme's or his jabs at hair selection he quieted down walking next to Sasuke and glanced at him.

His face was morphed into an irritated look that was different than the passive face he usually took on.

He had a menacing aura that made every person in his path stumble away in fear.

In short he looked pissed off even more than usual.

Naruto's face started to form a look of realization and then donned a smirk.

'Well, this is interesting…' He decided to test the waters.

"Hey teme!" Naruto yelled. "Sakura and Akihiko-san sure look good together don't they? They seem to be pretty comfortable with one another!"

This comment was accompanied with a "Tch!", a faster pace, and fists tightening.

Naruto slowly formed a wide mischievous smile. "Are you alright teme? You seem tense and more angry than usual…could it be that your jealous of Akihiko-san?"

"Jealous? Why would I be jealous?" Sasuke grunted.

Sasuke slowed down and then came to a stop, turning halfway towards Naruto in a defensive stance, and glared at him with his sharingan activated.

Naruto's grin grew even wider and he said, "Well, I guess I'll see you later loverboy, I'm gonna go back and get this jutsu checked on!" He then ran back towards the hospital with a smile plastered on his face and chuckles rolling out of him.

'What a loser' Sasuke thought. 'Jealous? Why should I be jealous? I don't have the right to be…' As he rifted through these thoughts he continued walking without any particular place in mind.

Sakura sat at her office desk mulling over what Akihiko-kun had offered her. It was plain to see what her decision was already, however. It is not like she actually had a choice in the first place. She gave out a hefty sigh and tried to remember what had gotten her into this huge mess.


End file.
